[ { "id": 204353, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1961", "page_number": 121, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n117\n\nin favour of allowing the body to be removed in a coffin past their particular floor in a two or three-storeyed tenement building. Chinese coffins usually consist lengthwise of four sections of tree trunk and are therefore bulky, irrespective of whether the coffin is cheap or one of the expensive polished varieties. Manoeuvring these coffins up and down narrow tenement staircases, with inevitable banging against walls, might be likened to death tapping at the door: a harbinger of bad luck.\n\nTo meet this problem of removal from upper floors in the urban areas, it used to be the custom up till five or six years ago to construct a bamboo staging outside the building, so that the coffin could be taken out of the window and be brought down the staging to the hearse in the roadway. The custom has now almost entirely disappeared for a number of reasons, largely economic: new buildings have grown too high for stagings to reach most upper storeys; the cost of long bamboo from China has risen enormously as a result of its use for scaffolding in the current building boom; the practice of glassing-in verandahs and balconies has made windows too small for coffins to fit through; traffic congestion in the streets makes the authorities chary of allowing even more obstruction in the form of these stagings on roads and pavements. To take their place as a means of removing the body from the private premises, basket-woven containers or stretchers have come to be used, and they are far less expensive.\n\nIf an undertaker is engaged, he will prepare the body in the deceased's home, encoffin and remove it either direct to the cemetery or to a Government cemetery depot in Hong Kong or Kowloon, where it can be held overnight pending Government conveyance to a public cemetery. A farewell pavilion at each depot provides free facilities for the relatives to hold services of any denomination or to perform other last rites.\n\nIf a funeral parlour is engaged, the body is conveyed in the basket-woven container or stretcher to the parlour for preparation, encoffining and almost invariably a service. In a few cases, embalming is carried out but this is a refinement that seems to hold no particular significance, since burial takes place normally within the forty-eight hours allowed by law for the body to remain on the premises. In parts of China, it apparently used to be the custom to delay burial for periods of up to seven weeks. But the more tropical climate of Hong Kong and the ever-present risk of disease has made it necessary to insist on a forty-eight hours limit in funeral parlours.\n\nWhen encoffined in a funeral parlour, the body is placed in a farewell room where it is customary for the immediate relatives to maintain a vigil (overnight, if necessary) until the time comes for conveyance to a cemetery or crematorium. During the vigil and funeral, the close relatives (i.e. widow and widower, sons and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207493, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1975", "page_number": 261, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "CAPTIVE SURGEON IN HONG KONG\n\n253\n\nour entitlement to vegetables for two days was 191.5 kilos while we received only 64.5 kilos.\n\nOn 6 June, which my diary remembered to record as Derby day, I have a note that we had had two small issues of meat one about 26 May and another a few days later. We minced the meat up so as to get it distributed throughout the rice as chow fan and through the vegetable in stews. We were collecting vegetable issues each day by hand from Argyle Street and our own gardens while being successfully cultivated were not producing enough to affect the main hospital diet though sick patients did profit. By now we were doing a good deal of gardening outside the wire.\n\nOn 7 June a note in my diary recorded for the first time that overnight two of our men on night duty had their dinners stolen. The empty containers later reappeared, having been taken by the guard sergeant.\n\nOn 8 June we had a welcome intake of Red Cross stores, the last receipts having come on 9 March. On this occasion we received 200 catties of beans (266 lbs); 100 catties wheat (133 lbs); 35 catties lard (47 lbs); 23 lbs peanut butter; 24 lbs preserved meat; 49 lbs cube sugar; 243 duck eggs and 20 bars of washing soap. This splendid intake allowed us to issue one half egg to each person in hospital.\n\nIt was on 9 June that Saito searched the hospital for three hours and took away for examination, he said, all case sheets for patients, all patients' records, operating books etc. that he could find. He also took documents relating to 27 Company R.A.M.C., together with some possessions taken from individuals. No one ever saw these again and I have recorded elsewhere how I got from Saito written acknowledgement of what he had done.\n\nOn 10 June a second working party of 20 men came from Sham Shui Po to make gardens near our cemetery in Kowloon.\n\nOn 20 June I asked for some less fit men from the first working party to be taken off work and returned to camp and I also gave Saito at his request a list of men fit for discharge. These numbered only six. At this time I have a curious note in my diary that I signified approval to Saito on behalf of the officers concerned for the Japanese to use the interest on our savings for the benefit of all. The Japanese request was conveyed in a letter in their own language which was explained to me orally by Saito through his interpreter. I must have understood the proposal at the time but", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209694, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1982", "page_number": 351, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "BOOK REVIEWS\n\n329\n\nAugustus K. K. Siu and Anthony K. K. Siu, Studies on Chinese Genealogies and the History of the Hong Kong Region, Fung Chin Institute, Hong Kong, 1982.\n\nThis book consists of eleven essays on the Hong Kong region (Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, the New Territories, and neighbouring areas). Four of them deal with genealogies, six principally with the history of the New Territories, and the last with boat people's songs. The central theme is that genealogies are valuable source materials for writing the history of this area, and this theme is illustrated with numerous examples.\n\nThere should be no dispute on the central theme: the question is how to put it into practice. The essay on migration into the Hong Kong region (chapter 5), despite the misleading reference in the title to all immigrant lineages as \"guest lineages\", is a useful example. In this essay, the authors list the time periods during which fifty-three surname groups first settled here from evidence recorded in their genealogies. The Tangs of Kam Tin, Lung Yeuk Tau, etc., and the P'aangs of Fan Ling came at the end of the Sung dynasty, the Lams of Shek Po Tsuen, and the Lius of Wu Kai Sha came in the Ming, and so on. The list is a useful first approximation, but obviously much more needs to be done.\n\nAnother interesting essay (chapter 4) describes ten historical “events” recorded in the genealogies. They include the marriage of the Sung princess to the ancestor of the Tangs, several famines and piratical attacks, the coastal evacuation from 1662 to 1668, the establishment of Tai Po New Market, the burial of a Chinese Christian at a Protestant cemetery on Hong Kong Island in 1854, the establishment of charity schools by philanthropist Fung Ping Shan, and flooding in Tsuen Wan in 1954. Similar \"events\" are discussed in greater detail in four other chapters (6, 8, 9 and 10), i.e., the establishment of the \"five great clans\" of the New Territories, the legend often referred to as \"letting go of the wooden goose\", the experience of the Southern Sung court in Kowloon, and the Tsuen Wan village feud of 1862 to 1864. Quite a few of these events have been discussed by other authors, notably Lo Hsiang-lin and James Hayes.\n\nThese later chapters make use of stone tablets and oral", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210626, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1985", "page_number": 233, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "214\n\nMuch later in 1958, Foulden learned of the Victoria Cross and the brave deeds of one of its sons, who had been born in a caravan, and who had become legend. However nothing appears to exist in writing in the village, and his name is not on the war memorial. Few people remember him. Nevertheless Mr. B.W. Billman, who was born in 1901 and is the oldest inhabitant, was proud to tell me:\n\n\"Of course I remember him! We sat in the same class. But I did not realise, at the time, he was so 'special'. He was just a quiet, likeable, country boy...\"\n\nWarrant Officer Osborn was officially listed as \"missing\" and there is no known grave.\n\nHis name does, however, appear on the memorial at Sai Wan Bay War Cemetery in Hong Kong. Also, on November 5th, 1981, a statue of a World War I soldier, which had formerly stood in the grounds of Eucliffe Castle, at Repulse Bay, the site of a brutal massacre of British and Canadian soldiers, in World War II, by the Japanese invaders, was unveiled in \"Osborn Barracks\" in Kowloon Tong. These barracks are named after Hong Kong's only recipient of the Victoria Cross.\n\nThe statue was donated by the Eu family, and the plaque, which was unveiled by Mr. Allen Kilpatrick, past Canadian High Commissioner, reads:\n\n\"Erected here in memory of WOII John Robert Osborn VC, Winnipeg Grenadiers, and through him all those men and women, service and civilian, and of every race, colour and creed, whose secret acts of gallantry and self-sacrifice in the defence of Hong Kong, December 1941, went unnoticed and unrecorded\".\n\nOf the Canadians I spoke to in early December 1985, who had returned to the scene of the battle, probably ex-Sergeant Robert (Bob) Manchester remembers Osborn best.\n\n\"He was a determined man and an experienced soldier.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215531, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2001", "page_number": 308, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "258 \n\nwere entrusted to a Board of Management, comprised mainly of the leading Chinese members in the community. The location of the cemetery, finally authorized in 1941, was described as 'a piece of land at Tsun Wan in the New Territories of Hong Kong known as Lot No.262 Demarcation District No.446'.154\n\n'New Kowloon Cemetery No.7,' situated at Hammer Hill, was also authorized in 1935.155 Three years later, in 1938, an urn cemetery, known as 'Hammer Hill Urn Cemetery,' containing about 90 acres and situated at Hammer Hill, was approved.156 Another extension of New Kowloon Cemetery No.7 was authorized in 1941, which was described as 'that piece of land containing about 16 acres situate to the east of the said cemetery and having Anderson Road as its western boundary.'157\n\nJust before the Japanese invasion, a new Catholic cemetery, 'New Kowloon I.L. No.2662 (Roman Catholic) Cemetery,'158 had been erected near Piper's Hill in Cheung Sha Wan; however, no information is found regarding its setting up,159 though a 1947 government notice stated:\n\nIt is the intention of the Government to exhume all unauthorised graves in the Roman Catholic Cemetery, known as New Kowloon Inland Lot No.2662, Cheung Sha Wan, in which bodies were buried during the war period. The exhumation will commence on 1st February 1948. The remains of those known to have been of the Roman Catholic Faith will be reburied in the same cemetery, and the remains of those known to have been non-Catholic will be removed to authorised urn cemeteries for reburial unless applications for private reburial are received in the meantime...160\n\nThe Japanese Occupation Period (1941-1945)\n\nDespite the huge loss of lives during the Japanese invasion and the subsequent occupation period,161 no cemetery of a long-term nature was established between 1942 and 1945. However, a number of 'War Emergency Cemeteries' were temporarily in use; they were:\n\n1. Hong Kong No.1 (Emergency) Cemetery, at the Hong Kong University Playing Field in Pokfulam.162", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215535, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2001", "page_number": 312, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "262\n\nCemetery.\n\nTsun Wan Christian Cemetery\n\nTsuen Wan\n\n1912\n\nHau Pui Loong Cemetery\n\nMa Tau Wat\n\n1913\n\nRemoval of last graves was\n\nordered 1948.\n\n*Chinese Permanent Cemetery\n\nAp Lei Chau Cemetery\n\nAberdeen\n\nAp Lei Chau\n\n1913\n\n1014\n\nRemoval of all urns was\n\nordered 1949.\n\nChinese Christian Cemetery\n\nNew Kowloon\n\n1919\n\nInland Lot No. 5\n\nLocation not known.\n\nKowloon Cemeteries\n\nHo Man Tin\n\n1921\n\nCemeteries were split into\n\n*Race Course Fire Memorial and\n\nCemetery\n\nSo Kon Po\n\nfour 1930.\n\nCompleted 1922.\n\nChristian Chinese Cemetery\n\nStanley\n\n1924\n\n*New Kowloon Cemetery No. 2\n\nNgau Chi Wan\n\n1928\n\nErected for the Little Sisters\n\nof the Poor.\n\n*Castle Peak Christian Cemetery\n\nCastle Peak\n\nEarliest graves: 1928\n\nRoman Catholic Cemetery\n\nKowloon Cemetery No. I\n\nHo Man Tin\n\n1930\n\nHo Man Tin\n\n1930\n\nErected for European\n\nProtestants.\n\nKowloon Cemetery No. 2\n\nHo Man Tin\n\n1930\n\nErected for Chinese.\n\nKowloon Cemetery No. 3\n\n*New Kowloon Cemetery No. 5\n\n*Song Him Tong\n\nSung Chan Wui Kei Tuk Kau Fan Cheung\n\nHo Man Tin\n\n1930\n\nErected for Muslims.\n\nDiamond Hill\n\n1931\n\nFan Ling\n\n1931\n\n*Cheung Chau Chinese Christian\n\nCemetery\n\nCheung Chau\n\n1931\n\n*Tao Fung Shan Christian Cemetery\n\nSha Tin\n\nEarliest graves: 1931\n\n*Tai O Cemetery\n\nTai O\n\n1932\n\nNew Stanley Cemetery\n\nStanley\n\n1933\n\nNew Kowloon Cemetery No. 6\n\nShek Kip Mei\n\n1933\n\nIntended for European\n\nProtestants, details not known.\n\n*Sai Kung Catholic Cemetery\n\n*Chinese Permanent Cemetery\n\n*New Kowloon Cemetery No. 7\n\nSai Kung\n\nTsuen Wan\n\nHammer Hill\n\n1934\n\n1935\n\n1935\n\nExtension was approved 1941,\n\nExtension might have been renamed\n\n*Hammer Hill Urn Cemetery\n\nHammer Hill\n\n1938\n\nNew Kowloon Cemetery No. 8\n\nlater.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215549, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2001", "page_number": 326, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "276\n\n125 As late as the 1990, there was still a new burial.\n\n126 HKGG Notice 311 of 14th August 1914. According to a 1951 stone inscription at the Chiu Chow section of the Wo Hop Shek Cemetery, a section of this cemetery was reserved for the Chiu Chow dead in 1933. All graves of the 'Government or General section' of urn cemetery in the same cemetery were ordered to be removed in 1947, see HKGG Notice 743 of 19th September 1947.\n\n127 For instance, HKGG Notice 421 of 20th October 1922 and Notice 321 of 20th July 1923.\n\n128 HKGG Notice 797 of 14th October 1938. Removal of all urns in Shum Wan Cemetery was ordered in 1949, see HKGG Notice 936 of 30th September 1949.\n\n129 HKGG Notice 420 of 12th September 1919. The location of this cemetery is not mentioned in the notification and the site is not known at the moment.\n\n130 HKGG Notice 18 of 21 January 1921. The cemetery was to be split into three separate ones in 1930, see below.\n\n131 HKGG Notice 678 of 5th December 1924.\n\n132 HKGG Notice 439 of 3rd August 1928. A section of this cemetery still exists within the St. Joseph's Home for the Aged. As the whole piece of land has just been sold to a developer in February 2002, the cemetery may be cleared soon. See a local Chinese newspaper, The Economic Journal, 13 March 2002, p. 6. Information provided by the Rev. Carl T. Smith.\n\n134 HKGG Notice 400 of 27th June 1930.\n\n135 Fo Pang was the old name for the area around the present Wah Yan College site.\n\n136 A 1920 map, CO1047/455, as kept in the PRO at Kew, shows a European Cemetery near Tai Shek Ku, approximately the present Kowloon Hospital site, but not in the Fo Pang area. Further clarification is needed in regard to the relation between these two cemeteries. Kowloon Cemetery No. I was closed in 1933, see HKGG Notice 799 of 15th December 1933.\n\n137 Removal of all graves and urns in this cemetery was ordered in 1948, see HKGG", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 } ]